Doctor Who Online

Last updated

Doctor Who Online
Type of site
News site & fan discussion forum
Available inEnglish
OwnerSebastian J. Brook
URL http://www.drwho-online.co.uk/
RegistrationFree
Launched1996 (originally named 'Doctor Who: The Regenerative website')
Current statusActive

Doctor Who Online (or DWO by its users) has, since 1996, been a UK-based news, information, and forum site dedicated to the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who . A regular feature on the website is the Doctor Who: DWO Whocast Podcast, [1] started in April 2006.

Contents

Site history

The site was founded as Doctor Who: The REGENERATIVE website in 1996, as a site for fans to find out news and guides for the show while it was off the air. The website was created by science fiction fan Sebastian J. Brook. When it launched, there was no current series of Doctor Who and the show was not shown in a regular cycle. The website detailed when previous episodes were scheduled to repeat on television. In 2000, the website changed its name to Doctor Who Online in response to former Doctor Tom Baker, who suggested the name would suit the website better.[ citation needed ] Many of the features the website originally had, such as the News section, still remain.[ citation needed ]

Features

The original website had regular features, including: news, episode guides, magazine releases (often featuring Doctor Who Magazine ) and convention information. The site has its own Minecraft server, containing a survival section, a minigames section where players can participate in Doctor Who-themed games and challenges, and a creative section where players can construct Doctor Who-inspired builds and replicas.[ citation needed ]

Dr. Who News

The news section of the Doctor Who Online website has regular news features and contributors who help to document Doctor Who broadcast and merchandise announcements. The section also includes news from spin-off shows Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures . In November 2010, a Doctor Who Online News teamed up with Blendtec for a Doctor Who: Will it Blend? Doctor Who Special, in which DWO editor Brook and Tom Dickson, a Blendtec C.E.O, attempt to blend an Ironside Dalek action figure. The video has proven popular on YouTube with over 200,000 views so far. [2]

DWO Whocast

The Whocast (officially titled Doctor Who Podcast: DWO WhoCast) is a weekly podcast featured by the site. The Whocast was started in April 2006 by Paul A.T. Wilson, during the original run of Series 2 of Doctor Who , and in conjunction with a Doctor Who meeting group based in London. In September 2006, The Whocast teamed up with DWO, with a significant format change and the addition of a co-host. [3] With the format change, the podcast attracted more listeners and experienced a dramatic growth in listenership. [4]

The podcast usually features interviews with people involved with the new and the old series of Doctor Who and Big Finish Productions. Interviews with members of the cast and crew from the classic and the new series of Doctor Who are common; the team are regularly joined by actors who have played the Doctor, such as Colin Baker and Peter Davison. They have had members of the effects team such as Neill Gorton and Mat Irvine as well as other members of acting and production staff.

Community

The original forum went live in April 2003 and was originally powered using the "ezboard provider". Due to increased membership, the forum was upgraded a few years later. The online community has over 48,000 members.[ citation needed ] Discussion frequently takes place on the most recent televised Doctor Who episodes. Comments center on novels, video, audio, merchandise, and past Doctor Who adventures as well.[ citation needed ] The Doctor Who Online forums are frequently used by the British media to gauge Doctor Who fan opinions. For example, the announcement of the new costume for the Eleventh incarnation of the Doctor (Matt Smith) was the subject of discussion on the forum, which was reported on by the BBC News Magazine website. [5] The choice of actor to play the Eleventh incarnation was also heavily discussed. When the actor announcement was made, Brook commented: "...I think it is the right choice. It is good that they have got a young guy with lots of energy." [6]

Reception

A review of the website by BBC Radio 2's Miles Mendoza described it as "...one of the most popular and longest established [Doctor Who sites]". [7] The leading UK Science Fiction magazine, SciFiNow, cited the site as "the web's premiere Doctor Who site". [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Doctor Who</i> British science fiction TV series (1963–present)

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterrestrial being called the Doctor, part of a humanoid species called Time Lords. The Doctor travels in the universe and in time using a time travelling spaceship called the TARDIS, which externally appears as a British police box. While travelling, the Doctor works to save lives and liberate oppressed peoples by combating foes. The Doctor often travels with companions.

Syfy is an American basic cable television channel, owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division and business segment of Comcast's NBCUniversal. Launched on September 24, 1992, the channel broadcasts programming relating to the science fiction, horror, and fantasy genres. As of November 2023, Syfy is available to approximately 69,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its 2011 peak of 99,000,000 households.

PC Gamer is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games magazines in their respective countries. The magazine features news on developments in the video game industry, previews of new games, and reviews of the latest popular PC games, along with other features relating to hardware, mods, "classic" games and various other topics. PC Gamer and parent Future began digital PC Gaming Show at E3 2015.

<i>Harry Potter</i> fandom Community of fans of the Harry Potter books and films

The Harry Potter fandom is the community of fans of the Harry Potter books and films who participate in entertainment activities that revolve around the series, such as reading and writing fan fiction, creating and soliciting fan art, engaging in role-playing games, socialising on Harry Potter-based forums, and more. The fandom interacts online as well as offline through activities such as fan conventions, participating in cosplay, tours of iconic landmarks relevant to the books and production of the films, and parties held for the midnight release of each book and film.

Doctor Who is a British television science fiction series, produced and screened by the BBC on the BBC TV channel from 1963 to 1964, and on BBC1 from 1964 to 1989 and since 2005. A one-off television film, co-produced with Universal Pictures was screened on the Fox Network in the United States in 1996.

<i>SFX</i> (magazine) Science fiction/fantasy magazine

SFX is a British magazine covering the topics of science fiction and fantasy. Its name is a reference to the abbreviated form of "special effects".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MuggleNet</span> Harry Potter fansite

MuggleNet is the Internet's oldest and largest Harry Potter and Wizarding World fansite. MuggleNet was founded in 1999. It has expanded over the years to include a handful of partner podcasts, a separate book blog, over half a dozen published works and live events. At one point, it also ran its own forums, social network and separate fan fiction website. Originally owned by founder Emerson Spartz, MuggleNet became an independently-owned and operated brand in early 2020.

Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC was an American entertainment company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2003 by Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey, Jason Saldaña, Gus Sorola, and Joel Heyman, Rooster Teeth was a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming & Interactive Entertainment, which is a division of Warner Bros. Discovery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FanFiction.Net</span> US fan fiction website

FanFiction.Net is an automated fan fiction archive site. It was first launched in 1998 by software designer Xing Li, and currently has over 12 million registered users.

<i>Stargate</i> fandom Fan following surrounding the Stargate series

Stargatefandom is a community of people actively interested in the military science fiction film Stargate and its television shows including Stargate SG-1 (SG1), Stargate Infinity (SGI), Stargate Atlantis (SGA), Stargate Universe (SGU) and their spin offs. The first franchise release, Stargate (1994), led to four television series successors, four movies, a plethora of merchandise, and a massive franchise collectively known as the Stargate franchise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IMDb</span> Online media database

IMDb is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, plot summaries, trivia, ratings, and fan and critical reviews. IMDb began as a fan-operated movie database on the Usenet group "rec.arts.movies" in 1990, and moved to the Web in 1993. Since 1998, it has been owned and operated by IMDb.com, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outpost Gallifrey</span> Former Doctor Who Fan Website

Outpost Gallifrey was a fan website for the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was active as a complete fansite from 1995 until 2007, then existing solely as a portal to the still-active parts of the site, including its news page and forums until 31 July 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clayton Hickman</span>

Clayton James Hickman is a British scriptwriter, magazine editor, journalist and designer.

<i>Escape Pod</i> Science fiction podcast

Escape Pod is a science fiction podcast magazine produced by Escape Artists, Inc. It proclaims itself "the world's leading science fiction podcast". The present co-editors are Mur Lafferty and S. B. Divya.

The Doctor Who Appreciation Society (DWAS) is a society for fans of the television series Doctor Who. It was founded in May 1976, emerging from the Westfield College Doctor Who Appreciation Society, and the editors and readers of the fanzine Tardis.

TrekNation is a reference and community website for the Star Trek franchise. It also serves as a hub for its network websites: TrekToday, a news site updated nearly daily; The Trek BBS, which describes itself as the largest Star Trek community on the Internet; and Jammer's Reviews, a Star Trek review site.

SarcasticGamer.com was an independent video gaming blog and community site that was relaunched as a podcast. As part of the GamerCast Network, a community of independent podcasters, the website focused on parodying the latest events happening in the gaming industry. Although the website was best known for its satirical news articles and parodies, it also featured reviews, news, opinions and rants. All articles, however, stayed true to the "sarcastic" ethos of the site. Sarcastic Gamer was relaunched as a podcast-only website in December 2012 before closing its site in 2015.

<i>Astronomy Cast</i> Astronomy podcast

Astronomy Cast is an educational nonprofit podcast discussing various topics in the field of astronomy. The specific subject matter of each episode shifts from week to week, ranging from planets and stars to cosmology and mythbusting. Premiering on September 10, 2006, the weekly show is co-hosted by Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela L. Gay. Fraser Cain is the publisher of the space and astronomy news site Universe Today and has a YouTube channel with over 200,000 subscribers. The other host, Dr. Pamela L. Gay, is a Senior Education and Communication Specialist and Senior Scientist for the Planetary Science Institute and the director of CosmoQuest. Each show usually has a length of approximately 30 minutes, and all shows, past and present, are accessible for download through the Astronomy Cast archive, as well as in podcast format.

Christopher David Johnson is a British television presenter and actor. He began presenting on the CBBC Channel in January 2010, and continued until April 2016. His first television appearance was for BBC Three, introducing Family Guy. Chris also makes content on YouTube under the user name OfficialCDJ.

<i>The Peacock and Gamble Podcast</i> British comedy podcast

The Peacock and Gamble Podcast was a weekly podcast hosted by British comedians Ray Peacock and Ed Gamble. Hosted on Chortle.co.uk and accessible via iTunes and RSS, the show started in 2009 as a spiritual sequel to the Ray Peacock Podcast. A live show spawned from the podcast, the Peacock and Gamble Emergency Broadcast, which was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe as part of a tour. They also performed a live show in the winter of 2009, which has not been released for download. The podcast is well-acclaimed, having been nominated for numerous Chortle awards.

References

  1. Doctor Who: DWO WhoCast,Archived September 22, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  2. Will it Blend? Dr Who Special - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd-JJTs2aKU
  3. Doctor Who Online – DWO WhoCast Archived October 16, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  4. "WhoCast Statistics". Archived from the original on 14 August 2007. Retrieved 12 October 2007.
  5. BBC NEWS | Magazine | The fashion police on Doctor Who's new outfit, Retrieved 2009-07-21.
  6. Time is on Side of New Doctor Who; Times Online, Retrieved 2009-01-04.
  7. Miles Mendoza's Website of the Day, Retrieved 2007-03-30.
  8. SciFi Now Magazine: Issue #34 - "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)